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X-Men Vol 1 1
* ** ** ** ** ** Antagonists: * Other Characters: * * Unnamed staff * * * * * * * * Races and Species: * * * * * * and Locations: * ** *** **** ***** ****** ******* ******** *** **** Military base at *Magneto's secret laboratory. * Items: * * * * Nuclear missile * Hunter missile Vehicles: * * | Notes = * First appearance of the original team of X-Men, including Charles Xavier (Professor X), Scott Summers (Cyclops - though he is called "Slim" Summers in this issue), Bobby Drake (Iceman), Warren Worthington III (Angel), Henry "Hank" McCoy (the Beast) and Jean Grey (Marvel Girl). First appearance of Magneto, though his actual name (Erik Lensherr) would not be revealed for many years to come. The concept of mutants as an offshoot race of common humans is first introduced as is the X-Men's mission to protect humanity from evil mutants. * First appearance of the Charles Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters (also known as the "X-mansion") in Westchester County, New York. The Danger Room is not introduced in this issue, although Xavier uses a "training machine" to test his student's abilities. Oddly, Professor X is shown testing their abilities in a second-floor room, with windows facing the main street, where anyone might happen to look in and discover their secret identities. It must also be an unusually spacious room as the Angel is shown flying around in it. * Although this issue is the first appearance of the X-Men, the team (minus Marvel Girl) has already been formed. Their previous storylines are shown in other titles and flashbacks, in direct contradiction to dialogue spoken by Professor X in this issue, who remarks on his fears about sending the team on their first mission. * Professor Xavier claims that he lost the use of his legs in a childhood accident. It is later revealed in , that he actually was disabled while fighting Lucifer. This retcon is critical to Cain Marko's origin and Xavier's time in Israel and Egypt (e.g., and ). * Cyclops is referred to as "Slim" in this issue. His real first name, Scott, is not revealed until . * When Jean arrives at the school, she and Professor X act as if they have never met in person (though they have been in correspondance). It is later revealed in , and , that the two of them had several training sessions prior to Jean's arrival at the school. Jean also demonstrates her telekinetic ability but there is no mention of her own telepathy (nor would there be for the first several years of the series' run.) * Iceman was originally drawn to look like a snowman when he manifested his powers. He regularly threw snowballs as weapons. This issue also establishes that Iceman is younger that the rest of his teammates. The Professor specifies that Iceman is 16-years-old. At the time of publication , this would place Iceman's birth c. 1947. This is a topical reference, due to the Sliding Timescale. * When the X-Men get their first glimpse of Jean through the window, Cyclops, Angel and Beast are smitten but Iceman comments: "A girl...big deal." The implication is that Iceman is not interested in girls. (Future X-Men series would reveal that Bobby Drake is gay.) * Professor X mentions his (unnamed) parents, and claims that both of his parents had worked on the first atom bomb project. Later stories confirm that Brian Xavier was a nuclear scientist, but not that Sharon Xavier was a fellow scientist. * Magneto introduces the term homo superior in the second panel in which he appears. *The X-Men reportedly defeat Magneto in less than 15 minutes and an unnamed general comments that it is "uncanny". This is the first time the term is used to describe the Uncanny X-Men. * Xavier's signature catch phrase "To me, my X-Men." debuts on the final page. *Professor X claims that Cyclops is getting better at receiving the Professor's thoughts and that there will soon be no need to speak aloud to him. Indicating that the Professor previously had trouble communicating telepathically with Cyclops. *Iceman complains that the Professor is taking it easy with his training, due to his status as the "kid" of the team. He feels that the Professor is pushing the other males of the team harder. *Jean Grey mentions that when Professor X contacted her about joining his school, he asked her for secrecy, and for her not to notify anyone except her parents. She also notes that the Professor never mentioned the course of study. *Jean Grey claims to have had the power of telekinesis for practically her entire life, and that she had to keep it a secret for her entire life. *Professor X implies that the work of his parents with the atom bomb was responsible for his birth as a mutant. He also claims to Jean Grey that he was perhaps the first mutant ever born, something denied by most later stories. *Professor X states in this issue that there are many mutants walking the Earth, and that more mutants are born every year. He does not state how he knows this. *Since Magneto has no allies in this issue, he spends a few pages talking to himself. *Magneto introduces the term Homo superior in the second panel that he ever appears in. *When invading the base, Magneto seems to intentionally avoid physically harming the soldiers and officers. He captures everyone with no loss of life. He also seems strangely calm during the entire process. *While acclimating herself to her new environment, Jean Grey seems to find the Beast annoying and complains that the men of the team are not allowing her any privacy. *Following the destruction of his missiles by the X-Men, Magneto notes to himself that he must never underestimate the X-Men. *Angel becomes the first X-Man to meet Magneto face-to-face. * Professor X's "training machine" that is shown is a precursor to the giant Danger Room that is created in the mansion. *Jean Grey mentions her parents, but they are not actually depicted in this issue. | Trivia = * Magneto's power shows that he can manipulate the magnetic field around things to enclose them in the field. This theory was debunked and later explained by future writers as his power to control the iron in one's blood and use that to contain them. * This comic's title was later changed to Uncanny X-Men and continued under that name until its numbering was rebooted with a new Uncanny X-Men series in 2013. A second X-Men title was introduced in the 90's, was briefly renamed "New X-Men", and was finally changed to X-Men Legacy. In 2010, the third series to use the adjective-less X-Men title debuted and in 2013, a fourth series was introduced. * Magneto makes a statement in the air using levitating bullets. The phrase says "Surrender the base or I'll take it by force - Magneto". This phrase is similar to the one used by the Wicked Witch in the 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz, produced by MGM Studios. * The newspaper that headlines Magneto's first terrorist act is a Daily Globe newspaper. *This Comic Book was referenced in Marvel: Avengers Alliance and is one of the Comic Book Covers required in order to recruit Magneto in the game. *One of the Professor's exercises in this issue required Beast and Iceman to throw balls at each other. The Beast compares this to basketball, and jokes about the X-Men challenging the Harlem Globetrotters at the game. The Globetrotters are a real basketball team, from Earth-1218. They specialize in exhibition games, and their performances combine athleticism, theater, and comedy. * The X-Men are transported to Cape Citadel via helicopter, which was still considered a relatively high-tech innovation in the early 1960s. * Cape Citadel is patterned off of the real-life Cape Canaveral missile launch base. In fact future issues of the X-Men that recalled these events (such as X-Men #s 113 and 125) would specifically state that this was Cape Canaveral. *Jean compares her new X-Men uniform to the fashion designs of Christian Dior (1905–1957). Dior was a French fashion designer and founder of the company Dior, one of the world's top fashion houses. His company still exists in the 21st century, under the control of billionaire Bernard Arnault (1949-). But her mention of Dior probably counts as apocryphal due to the sliding timescale of the Marvel Universe, as it is unlikely that a teenaged girl in the 21st century would be referencing it. * There has been a longstanding fandom debate over whether or not Stan Lee and Jack Kirby lifted elements of the Doom Patrol (a series published by Marvel's business rival, DC Comics) to create the X-Men. Like the Doom Patrol, the X-Men are led by a wheelchair-bound mentor. The members of each team wear matching uniforms and are considered freaks and/or possible menaces to society. The Doom Patrol series debuted first in the comic book My Greatest Adventure, cover dated June, 1963. Lee always maintained that the similarities were entirely coincidental and pointed out that, given the nature of publishing comic books in the early 1960s, the first issue of X-Men would have been far into the editing stage by the time he could have even seen an issue featuring the Doom Patrol. However Doom Patrol creator Arnold Drake has stated that there was a lot of fraternization between the comic book creators of each company and Lee could have known about the Doom Patrol concept before the series debuted. It is worth noting however that Lee and Kirby's own Fantastic Four series (which also featured a team of superheroes in matching uniforms, and at least one "freak" member, the Thing) debuted before even Doom Patrol and was a substantial hit. Lee and Kirby were almost certainly referencing the FF when they created the X-Men, but it is also possible that Drake might have been inspired to create the Doom Patrol after seeing the Fantastic Four. | Recommended = | Links = * }}